According to reports in Mexican magazine Proceso, US Navy SEALs are planning a raid to catch "or kill" notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman (aka El Chapo).
Guzman is the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, regarded as the world's largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization, responsible for a large amount of the instability in Mexico.
The story, based on anonymous American and Mexican military sources and translated here, explains details of the plan to find Guzman, whom they believe is hiding somewhere in the mountainous region of the western Mexican states of Sinaloa and Durango.
Aside from Navy SEALs operatives, Northern Command members (a 2002 Pentagon operation created in response to the attacks of Al Qaeda in order to protect national interests and security of U.S. territories) would likely be involved in directing the mission (unlike the similar Osama bin Laden raid in which President Obama and his cabinet members, along with defense personnel, were in the room making decisions during the raid). Two Navy SEALs teams would be involved, one landing from armed helicopters and attacking on ground, another team staying airborne and being assisted by three unmanned drones with missiles attached, reports WIRED.
A notable omission from the plans is any involvement from the Mexican military, something that hasn't gone unnoticed. While this plan was reportedly approved by Mexico's lame duck President Felipe Calderon, the Mexican army and navy reportedly had serious qualms with the plan. One such objection: American military involvement in Mexico would violate Mexican law, which prohibits foreign law enforcement or military agencies from operating on their territory unless under very strict conditions stipulating the operatives, among other things, be unarmed.
Another setback to the plan is that Calderon is on his way out, and the incoming Enrique Peña Nieto may not be as welcoming to the thought of U.S. military intervention, nor to the idea that killing the leader necessarily hurts the cartels power.
The accuracy of the report is hard to gauge, but last year's Osama bin Laden raid is a good reminder that Navy SEALs have carried out similar raids in foreign countries before.
If it is true, lets hope the raid goes better than the arrest of Guzman's son earlier this year. Mexican authorities paraded their suspect in front of cameras until they were forced to admit they had arrested the wrong man.

I thought their special forces, or a bunch of them at least, became drug lords themselves. The Zeta's I think.

It was only a handful that defected to the cartels and then later formed their own. Also, this type of operation seems more akin to a Delta and CIA task force like they used to kill Escobar and capture Noriega.

actually it is our problem as well, the shit that goes on down there slowly floats upstream and fucks us up too
so yeah, we have to play world police, too bad

We have to play world police because of problems we created? We created the war on drugs you know, everything we're fighting today used to be yesterdays toothache medication (cocaine) and general analgesic (cannabis). We need to switch from punishment to rehabilitative measures, because punishing drug use won't end it, it makes it worse.

Cartels are a creation of the war on drugs because if there was no prohibition here and such a high demand for the shit, they'd either not exist or do business in their own country and make it their country's problem.

The US wants to kill El Chapo? That's a huge surprise; he's been actively supporting Mexican government for awhile against his rivals, Los Zetas. In fact, the Mexican Government has been siding with Guzman for a large majority of the Drug War. Now that the Zetas have a stronger foothold, in terms of government corruption, this could be very bad.

I hate to play sides, but the Sinaloa Cartel has been established for a very long time, and I think this could be a very bad thing. All reports indicate that this particular cartel does not go out of their way to kill civilians. The Zetas do so because they want to actively use terrorist tactics to win.

We had already caught him a decade ago and we did jack shit and literally let him escape. I rrrrrrreally hate to say this, but with as corrupt and incompetent as our army is, getting MURRICA WORLD POLICE to act on Mexican soil for once seems to be the only way to get this motherfucker what he deserves. It won't solve the war on drugs or every problem in America, but it will go to show not even the most powerful cartel leader can go unpunished forever.

This is one of the few persons I'd advocate death penalty for; this guy will keep being as powerful and dangerous if caught. Both Murrica's and Mexico's systems are too flawed.

Man I know this post sounds bad, but as a mexican, our own government's incompetence has become too frustrating

We have to play world police because of problems we created? We created the war on drugs you know, everything we're fighting today used to be yesterdays toothache medication (cocaine) and general analgesic (cannabis). We need to switch from punishment to rehabilitative measures, because punishing drug use won't end it, it makes it worse.

Cartels are a creation of the war on drugs because if there was no prohibition here and such a high demand for the shit, they'd either not exist or do business in their own country and make it their country's problem.

Usually what they resort to as a method to keep their business going, which is drugs.

I'm not saying cartels are good or ruling how they were created by the War on Drugs without evidence, look at the American mafia, it was created by alcohol prohibition, and even after alcohol was reallowed in America they had already taken root. We've been too arrogant with our stance on drugs and allowed profiting criminals to root up into organized machines bent on domination and profit.

since when are future navy SEAL ops released to the public? I thought shit like this is classified

Well we are STARTING to publicly acknowledge the presence of SEAL Team Six (or as they're actually known as, DEVGRU) so operations like this being leaked aren't as bad as when we used to keep them a secret, and even then the government would pull the "we don't know what you are talking about" card, just like they always do with Delta Force. Especially since we just acknowledge DEVGRU as just "spec ops" and not as "Tier One", luckily the media and the general public have no idea what the hell Tier One is.

Capturing him has always been a huge priority for both countries. He has been hunted and looked for for decades now and he hasn't stopped hiding in that time. It's a given he'll have to do it for the rest of his life. And I'd like to know what he'd do about a hunter Drone once they find him

Well we are STARTING to publicly acknowledge the presence of SEAL Team Six (or as they're actually known as, DEVGRU) so operations like this being leaked aren't as bad as when we used to keep them a secret, and even then the government would pull the "we don't know what you are talking about" card, just like they always do with Delta Force. Especially since we just acknowledge DEVGRU as just "spec ops" and not as "Tier One", luckily the media and the general public have no idea what the hell Tier One is.

Usually what they resort to as a method to keep their business going, which is drugs.

I'm not saying cartels are good or ruling how they were created by the War on Drugs without evidence, look at the American mafia, it was created by alcohol prohibition, and even after alcohol was reallowed in America they had already taken root. We've been too arrogant with our stance on drugs and allowed profiting criminals to root up into organized machines bent on domination and profit.

'principals' this isn't the godfather. the mafia has no principals except for making money

That doesn't change the fact that drugs didn't run the mafia. They were a part of its business, but even if they lost their market, criminal empires such as them always have other way of making a profit.

That doesn't change the fact that drugs didn't run the mafia. They were a part of its business, but even if they lost their market, criminal empires such as them always have other way of making a profit.

nothing as profitable as drugs are for the south american cartels. there's a reason why cartels in mexico are so much more powerful than mafia in the USA.

Edited:

i mean seriously, nothing will ever be more profitable than selling drugs for criminals. pablo escobar started his multi-billion dollar drug empire off of like $30 worth of cocaine or something